Japs Facing Slaughter on Bougainville

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 263, 5 November 1943, Page 5

Japs Facing Slaughter on Bougainville

SYDNEY, Nov. 4. Bloody fighting is ahead if the Jap anese try to hold Bougainville, in the Northern Solomons. But if they attempt to evacuate it, slaughter on the scale of the Battle of Guadalcanal (last November, when 20,000 Japanese died at sea) may result. These opinions are expressed by an Australian war correspondent in the South Pacific area. He points out that there can be no piecemeal evacuation from Bougainville as was the case from New Georgia, because this time the Japanese have no haven near at hand. Any attempt at evacuation must be on a large scale from the north, giving Admiral Halsey his long-awaited opportunity for fresh blows against Japanese shipping strength.

Land fighting on Bougainville would have its difficulties, both for the American and Japanese forces—but especially for the Japanese. United States marines have landed at the narrow “waist” oi Bougainville, which is a wild, mountainous, roadless, jungle-matted island, 120 miles long and 50 miles across at its widest. The Japanese forces have been split in two by the marines’ landing, and the enemy would find the approach to the Empress Augusta Bay beachhead from either north or south extremely difficult. A Japanese drive from Kahili in the south, would involve 45 miles oi travel along a narrow coastal track. A drive down the coast from Buka, in the north, would be even more difficultinvolving 65 miles of roadless travel. Any fighting on, Bougainville is likely to involve the natives. Bougainville’s 62,000 natives are fierce warriors, and tribal battles among them have always been frequent.